Drifting attachment for locomotives.



-J. A. PILGHER;

- DRIFTINGATTAGHMENT POR LOGOMOTIVES.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 6, 1914.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

4 SHEETS-$922111' 1.

er. A. HLGHER. DRFTING ATTACHMENT FQRLOGOMOTIVES.

Patntea Marlis, 1915,-

4 SHEETS-SHEET z.

WMM/woon `l J. A. PILCHER.

DRIPTING ATTACHMENT FOR LoGoMoTIvBs.

APPLICATION FILED .TUNE 6, 191'4,

Patented 15, i915.

4 SHBETS-SHEET mams@ J. A. PILCHER. DRIFTAING ATTACHMENT FOB. LOCOMOTIVES.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE e. 1914.

1,132,030. Patented 11111.16, 1915.

4 SHEETB-SHEBT 4.

)Pymgli,

3mm/Wo@ wwemo MQM a mm1 93 my Q Q SGEN A.. PILCHER, OF ROANOKEVIBG\INIA.

'DRIFTING ATTACHMENT EUR LOGOll/IOTIVE".

Specification of Letters Patent.

racontes raar. ie, isis.

Application led J' une 6, 1914. Serial No. 843,47.

l To all whom t may concern:

. Be it known that l, Joins A. Pipeline, a citi-zen of the United States, residing at Roanoke, in the county of Roanoke and' State of V irginia, have invented certain new and v.useful improvements in Drifting At tachments for Locomotives, of which the :tollowing is aspecication. f

The principal object of this invention is to provide means t'or admitting steam to the cylinders' of locomotives when the main throttle valve is closed, particularly when the locomotive is drifting.

lith the use of superlieateol steam the cylinders of locomotives become highly heated tand when the locomotive isv drittmg with the throttle valve closed and all steam shui;l yolif from the cylinders although the lubricating oil continues to liovv into the cylinders, yet the absence of the necessary omizing steam causes very imperfect lubrication. Thel friction of the reciprocating parts may thus even increase this temperature of the cylinder vWalls and the piston. At the same time the vacuumvrelief valves are admitting air to the cylinders, and at this high temperature the air combines With the ree oil to carbonize-it and it is depos# ited on the cylinder Walls Where it is disastrous to all of the Wearing parts. 1With the admission of a small supply of preferably saturated steam to the cylinders when the locomotive is drifting, continuous lubricain some instances this steam has beenk supplied by an auxiliary pipe lby-passed around thel throttle valve with a simple bland-operated valve in this pipe Within reach of the engineer. Various devices have also been tried out which at- 'tempt to make this an entirely automatic is then closed and the locomotive brought to a stand the/forgotten supply of steam to the cylinders will gradually build up pressure with. the result that the locomotive will creep, This creeping is very liable to cause serious accidentaccompanied by personal injury. Entirely automatic devices are liliewise not a success because of the liability of failure of operation.

Further objects ci'this invention, therefore, are to provide a device which entirely obliterates the possibility of the locomotive creeping and at the same time insures that drfting steam will be supplied to the cylinders on every occasion when the throttle is closed.

With the hereinbefore described objects and others in vieW my invention consists in the construction, combination and arrange ment ot parts asvvill be herein described and )finally claimed.

In the drawings Figure l is a side elevation of a locomotive having my' invention applied thereto, 'various parts being shown broken or removed for simplicity. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the rear end of the locomotive showing a portion of in y invention in its relation to the throttle operating' lever. ln this' ligure the throttle operating lever is shown in full lines in the closed position and in dotted lines in the open position. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the auxiliary steam control valve and Figs. l and 5 are broken perspective views of the rotary piston valves contained within this steam control valve.

-l `igs. li, 7 and 8 are transverse sections of the steam control valve taken on the line DE, Fig. 8 and seen in the direction of the arrow l?. These figures are drawn to show various positions of the parts of this valve, one 'valve arm being drawn in skeleton lines although it is not in' reality' Within the scope of the sections. Figs. 9 and l0 are transverse vertical sections of the ley-pass valve, these tivo figures being given to show dii'erent positions of the part-s of this valve.

Referring to the drawings in which like parts are git-en the same reference numbers `.vh'ercuer they occur, l represents a' loco* motive having a steam dome 2, throttle 3, dry pipe l, cylinders 5, and cylinder steam pipes 5. These parts are of the customary construction, the dry pipe #l leading at the front end to the steam pipes (i. ln the dravvings this connection is not shown, it being omitted because ot' themultiplicity of parts in the smoke box. Also, but one of the cylinders 5 and the steam pipes are shown, it

-being understood that a duplicate arrange- From the dome 2 or some other convenient source of steam I lead a pipe 7 which is adapted to convey steam from the boiler to a steam control valve 8. From the control valve 8 a steam pipe 9 passes to a bypass valve 10, and steam pipes 11 and v.12 lead 'from this oy-pass valve lO to the cylinder steam pipes 6 and the exhaust pipe 13 respectively, the pipe 11 having two branches 11a and 11b, one leading to each of the two cylinder steam pipes. These pipes and fittings thus constitute an auxiliary steam line adapted to convey steam from the boiler to the cylinders around the throttle valve.

The control valve 8 is so constructed and is so connected 'with the throttle operating lever 11 that when the throttle operating lever is moved to the open position the control valve 8 will shut ofi steam from the pipe 9 and when the throttle operating lever is in the closed position and the ycontrol valve is admitting steam to the pipe 9 said control valve may be manually closed, independently of the throttle operating lever, to shut ott steam from the pipe 9. The details of this control valve might be arranged in various ways, the valve in its present form consisting of a body 15 having connections at 16 and 17 for the attachment of the pipes 7 and 9 respectively. Within the body 15 are cylindrical valve chambers 18 and 19 and rotatably fitted in these chambers are cylindrical. valves 2O and 2l respectively. These valves 2O and 21 are of the piston type at the ends, having packing rings 22 to prevent the endwise movement of the steam. The central portion, however, is of the customary rotary valve construction, a portion of the periphery being cut away at 23 and 2st to form a steam passage and a portion remaining at 25 and 26 toform a port closure or bridge.

Integral with or secured to the outer ends of valves 2O and 21 are stems 27 and 28 respectively and these stems pass through suitable stuliing boxes 29 and 30.

Secured to the outer end of valve stem 27 is an operating arm 31Which operating arm is adapted to be actuated by the throttle operating lever. This operation will be hereinafter described.

Secured to the outer end of valve stem 28 is likewise an operating arm 32 which, however, is intended to be manuallypoperated. The purpose andA operation of this arm also will shortly be described.

Diametrically opposite the pipe connecl tions 16 and 17 are steam ports 33 and 34,

. and connecting these ports is a steam passage 35. The bridges 25 and 26 ont the valves 20 and 2l are of such width that they effectively close the ports 33 and 34 against the passage of steam when positioned over the same. With the valves 20 and 21 open steam from the" pipe 7 will thus pass sucport 33, the passage 35, the port' 31 and the valve chamber 19 into the pipe 9. Also, itv

will be seen that the valves 20 and 21 are in series with each other respecting the iow of the steam, hence the valve 20 may be termed a primary valve and the valve 21 'a secondary valve.

The axis ol the secondary valve 21 is a continuation of the axis of the primary valve 20, and these valves have, under certain later described conditions, engagement with each other by means of the concentrically disposed slot 36 'in the end of the primary valve 20 and the fixed pin 37 in the adjacent end of the secondary valve 21, the slot being adapted to accommodate the said pin.

The operation of this portion of my invention is as follows: The throttle operating lever being inl closed position andthe locomotive at rest, the primary valve arm 31, which is operatively 'connected to the throttle operating lever by means of the llink 38 will be in the position shown in Fig.

6. This arm 31 is so positioned on the valve stem 27 that the bridge 25 .of the primary valve 20 will leave the steam port 33 uncovered when the valve arm 31 is in the position shown in Fig. 6. Hence steam from the pipe 7 Will fill up the valve chamber 18 and the passage 35. At the same time the arm 32 should be standing in the position shown for it in Fig. 6. This valve arm 32 is sov positioned on the valve stem 28 that the bridge 26 of the secondary valve 21 will cover the steam port 34 When the valve arm 32 is in this position. Hence the steam noW in the passage 35 can not enter the valve chamber 19 or the pipe 9. The relation of the bridges 25 and 26 to the ports 33 and 34 when the Valves are in these positions is also shoivn in Fig. 6. This figure shows 'also the position of the pin 37 in the slot 36 where it will be seen that the said pin is at the rear end of the slot and that any rotation of the primary valve-20 in the direction of the arrow A Will rotate the secondary valve 21 a similar amount. When the throttle operating lever 1s now moved to the open position, the primary valve 20 will 'be rotated to the posi 'tion shown in Fig. 7 and by means of the aforesaid slot 36 and pin 37 the secondary valve 21 will likewise be moved to the position shown for it in Fig. 7, which figure shows the relation of the bridges 25 and 26 to the ports 33 and 34e. It will be seen-that with the valves in these positions the port 33. is closed and the port 34: open, hence steam from the pipe 7 can now come no farther than into the valve chamber 18. Also the pin 37 is still at the rear end of the slot 36 so that any rotation of the primary Valve 20 in the direction of the arrow B Will not vll() produce movement of the secondary valve 21. lf the throttle operating lever be now moved to the closed position the primary valve will be rotated to the position shown in Fig. 8, in which position the bridge has uncovered the port 33. The second- Iary valve 21, however, remains in the'same position as in Fig. 7 hence the port 34 remains open. Consequently, steam from the pipe T can now fiow through the control valve 8 and into the pipe 9 which delivers it to the locomotive cylinders or under some later described conditions to the exhaust pipe. Fig. 8 thus shows the positions of the parts of thecontrol valve 8 when the locomotive is drifting and steam is being supplied to the cylinders for the purposes here iii-before stated. The pir. 37 is now at the front end of the slot 36 so that the secondary valve 21 may be rotated by means of the arm 32 in the direction of the arrow C without moving the primary valvi. 20. Hence when the locomotive is stopped and the drifting steam is no longer needed the engineer moves the secondary valve 21 in the direction of the arrow C by means of the arm 32, bringing this valve into the position shown in Fig. 6 and cutting oif steam from the pipe 9. All the parts of the control valve 8 now stand in their former positions as in Fig. G and the entire mechanism is ready Jfor another cycle of operations. lVith the throttle perating lever closed and the parts of the control valve in the positions shown in Fig. 8 steam might be delivered directly to the locomotive cylinders through the pipe 9. But when the locomotive is stopped the engineer might forget tol close the valve 21 and the live steam passing to the cylinders might cause the locomotive to creep away.

To guard against this possibility, I provide in this auxiliary steam line the by-pass valve 10 which is adapted. to permit the flow of steam to the locomotive cylinders until pressure builds up in them and then to bypass the steam to some outlet, such as to the exhaust pipe as shown in the drawings.

To `perform these functions this by-pass valve is preferably made as follows, references being to Figs. 9 and 10 of the drawings.

39 is the b v-pass valve body having an opening 40 for the connection of the steam supply, which steam is admitted into a chamber 41. Immediately above and below this Chamber are pierced walls 42 and 43 these walls being provided with .oppositely disposed valve seats 44 and 45.

Above the wall 42 is a chamber 46i and below the wall 43 is a chamber 4T, fthesc chambers' being provided respectively with pipe outlets 48 and 49 through the body ot' the by-pass valve.

Extending through the chambers 41, 46

and 47 is a valve spindle 50 having aflixecl thereto oppositely disposed valves 51 and 52 which are adapted to occupy the seats 44 and 45 respectively. The valves 51 and 52 are spaced farther apart on the spindle 50 than the distance between the valve seats 44 and 45, consequently when one of these valves is seated the other is open, the steam in the chamber' 41 thus being shut 'olf from one of the chambers 46 and 47 while being admitted to the other of these chambers.

The upper portion 46 of the chamber 46 is made cylindrical in cross section so as to accommodate a piston 58. riihis piston is secured to the valve spindle 50 and is provided With Water rings 54 and pressure equalizing holes '58. T he chamber 46 and the piston 58 thus act as a dash pot to cushion the seating of the valves 51. and 52, the holes 58, by equalizing the pressure on both sides of the piston, providing against the area of the piston acting to help .ir hinder the seating or unseating of the valves 51 and 52. For convenience in manufacturing'and assembling, the body of this by-pass valve is provided with removable heads and 66. Also, the valve 52 and the lower portion of the valve spindle 50 are made separate from the valve 51 and the upper portion of the valve spindle, so that these parts may be readily assembled, the bolt 67 holding them together as an integral part. In operation this by-pass valve is connected at 4() to the steam pipe 9 so that the chamber 41 is lled With steam at all times when the control valve 8 is open as already explained.

The steam pipe 1l, which is connected to the chamber 4T at 49, is branched at 55, the branch 11a leading to one of the locomotive cylinder steam pipes, being connected thereto at 56, and the branch -11b of this pipe being similarly connected to the other cylinder steam pipe, this connection notbeing shown in 'the drawings.

From the chamber 46 a pipe 12 leads to the locomotive exhaust pipe 13, this pipe being connected to said exhaust pipe at 57, and to the body lot the icy-pass valve at 48.

llVhen the locomotive is Working, with the throttle valve open and the cylinder steam pipes filled with high pressure steam the valve 52 will be held' up against its seat by this steam pressure, the valve 51 consequently being unseated as shown in Fig. l()` and the pipe 9 being in full communication with the pipe 12 and. the exhaust pipe 123. With the throttle so opened, however. no steam is passing into the pipe 9 through the control valve 8, although it will be shortly shown how another supply of steam miglit at this time be passing through the liv-pass valve 10. i

When the throttle is closed to allow the locomotive to drift the pressure immediately falls ofi' in the cylinder steam pipes 6 and consequently in the chamber 47 sothat the valves 51 and 52 drop, the valve 51 seating and the valve 52 opening as shown in Fig. 9, the drifting steam thus being admitted to the cylinder steam pipes andthe cylinders through the pipes 11, 11a and 11b.

In the event that the locomotive is now brought to a stop and the engineer fails to manually close the 4control valve 8 the steam pressure immediately begins to build up in the cylinder steam pipes and consequently in the chambers 41 and 4:7. As soon, however, as this accumulated pressure reaches a predetermined amount the valve 51 is unseated and the valve 52 is seated, thereby by-passing the drifting steam into the exhaust pipe through-the pipe 12. The use of this Valve 10, therefore, precludes any possisame time the directing of this, column of steam up the stack ywhen the locomotive -is standing calls attention'to the fact that the control valve has not been closed. The pipe l2 is connected to the exhaus pipe at 57 because of convenience, but it will be'understood that this steam might be otherwise disposed of by any means that would convey it to the atmosphere. Also the point of connection of the pipes 11a and 11b to the cylinder steam pipes is not material. Those skilled in the art will understand that when the cylinder steam pipes contain pressure there vis present at the same time pressure in some part of the cylinders, either at the front or back. of the pistons. Conversely, when the cylinder contains pressure there is present also pressure in the cylinder steam pipes, hence the connection 56 is made to the cylinder steam pipes as at a point Where the drifting steam will iiow to the cylinders and where pressure influencing the cylinders will close the valve 52. The details of the by-pass valve might also be arranged in other ways to produce the same results by means of pressurefrom the cylinders.

In some instances it may be desired to use theair pump exhaust as driftingsteam. In Fig. 1 I have shown how this may be connected up with the other elements of my invention. Referring to this figure, 59 and 60 are air pumps having exhaust pipes 61 and v 62 These pipes 61 and 62 lead to a single exhaust pipe 63 which conveys this air pump exhaust into the steam pipe 9, connection being made therewith intermediate thecontrol valve 8 and the by-pass valvel 10 at ,6%. From this connection the exhaust v from the air pump is controlled in the bypass valve the same as live steam from the control valve, with the exception that when the locomotive is working and the valve 52 is seated and the valve 51 unseated the air 65 pump exhaust will flow unhindered through bility of the locomotive creeping. At the.

'the chambers 41 and 46 and thence out through the exhaust pipes 12 and 13.

Thus it Will be seen that'my invention fully performs all the functions desired.

It will also be evident that those skilled in the art might make various changes in the details of this device within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit thereof.l i v Having thus described my invention, what I 'claim is:

1. In a drifting attachment for locomotives the combination with the boiler cylinders, steam pipes, throttle valve and .throttle operating lever of an auxiliary 'steam 80 line adapted to convey steam to said cylinders around said throttle valve, a control'valve in said auxiliary steam line, operative means .from said throttle operating lever whereby the said control lvalve is closed when the said throttle valve is opened and opened when the said throttle valve is closed and independent operativemeans whereby the said control valve may be manually closed after the said throttle valve has been closed, said control valve being so constructed that after being manually closed the next opening of the throttle valve by the said throttle operating lever will move the parts of the said control valve to their normal positions for the opening position of the throttle opcrating lever.

2. In a drifting attachment for locomotives, the combination with the boiler, cylinders, steam pipes, throttle valve and throttle operating lever of an auxiliary steam pipe adapted to convey steam to'said cylinders around said throttle valve, a control valve in said auxiliary steam pipe, operative means, from said throttle operating lever whereby the said control valve is opened when-the said throttle valve is closed, and a by-pass valve in said auxiliary steam pipe adapted to admit steam to the cylinders when the said cylinders are not under pressure and adapted to shut off'steam'from the cylinders when the said cylinders are under pressure.

3. In a drifting attachment for locomotives the combination with the boiler, cylinders, steam pipes, throttle valve and throttle operating lever of an auxiliary steam line adapted to convey steam to the cylinders around said throttle Valveya control valve in said auxiliary steam line,-operative means 120 from said throttle operating lever whereby" the said control valve is closed when the said throttle valve is opened and opened. when the said throttle valve is closed, independent operative means whereby the said control valve may be manually closed after the said throttle valve has been closed, and a byspass valve in said auxiliarysteam line adapted to admit steam to the cylinders when the said cylinders are not under pres- 13o sure and adapted to shut ott steam from the cylinders when said cylinders are under pressure.

4. In a drifting attachment for locomotives the combination with the boiler, cylinders, steam pipes, throttle valve and throttle operating lever of an auxiliary steam line adapted to convey steam to the cylinders around said throttle valve, a control valve in said auxiliary steam line, Operative means from said throttle operating lever whereby the said control valve' is closed when the said throttle valve is opened and opened when the said throttle valve is closed, independent operative means whereby the said control valve may be manually closed .after the said throttle valve has been closed, and a by-pass valve in said auxiliary steam line, and a by-pass pipe from said by-pass valve to the atmosphere, said by-pass valve being adapted to admit Asteam from said auxiliary steam line to the cylinders when the said cylinders are not under pressure and being further adapted to by-pass the same to the atmosphere when the said cylinders are under pressure.

5. In a drifting attachment for locomotives the combination with the boiler, cylinders, steam pipes, throttle valve, throttle operating lever and air pumps of an auxiliary steam line adapted to convey steam to the cylinders around said throttle valve, a control valve in said auxiliary steam line, operative means from said throttle lever whereby the said control valve is closed when the said throttle valve is opened and opened when the Said throttle valve is closed, independent operative means whereby the said control valve may be manually closed after the said throttle valve has been closed, a by-pass valve in said auxiliary steam line, and a by-pass pipe therefrom, said by-pass valve and by-pass pipe being adapted to bypass steam around the cylinders when said cylinders contain high pressure steam, and a connection to said auxiliary steam line intermediate the said control valve and the said by-pass valve for the admission of the air pump exhaust.

6. In a drifting attachment for locomotives the combination with the boiler, cyl-- inders, steam pipes, throttle valve and throttle operating lever of an auxiliary steam line adapted to convey steam to said cylinders and` around said throttle valve and a control valve in said auxiliary steam line, said control valve having a primary valve operatively connected to said throttle operating lever and adapt/ed to be opened thereby when the throttle is closed and closed thereby when the throttle is opened and having a secondary valve disposed in series with said primary valve and operatively connected therewith to be opened when said primary valve is closed and to remain open when said primary valve is opened, and `independent operating means whereby the said secondary valve may be manually closed when the said primary valve is open.

7. In a drifting attachment for locomotives a source of steam, cylinders, a steam line from said source of steam to said cylinders, a ley-pass valve in said steam line and a by-pass pipe from said by-pass valve to the atmosphere, said by-pass valve being adapted to admit steam to the cylinders when the said cylinders are not under pressure and being further adapted to by-pass the steam to the atmosphere when the said cylinders are under pressure.

`8. In a drifting arrangement for locomotives the combination with the cylinders and air pumps, of a steam line adapted to convey the exhaust steam from said air pumps to the said cylinders, a by-papsvalve in said steam line and a luy-pass pipe from said bypass valve to the atmosphere, said lay-pass valve being adapted to admit the said exhaust steam tothe cylinders when the said cylinders are not under pressure and being further adapted to by-pass the said exhaust steam to the atmosphere when the said cylinders are under pressure.

In testimony whereof I ax my signature in presence of two witnesses.

`JHN A. PILCI-IER. Witnesses:

ROY K. BROWN, II. B. WADE.

copie! of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner o2 Patents, Washington, D. C. 

